Beastly
by 2phive8
Summary: Not everything that goes 'bump' in the night is to be feared...


Beastly

AN: This is NOT a continuation of 'True Love' or 'Insanity,' but I hope you like it anyway.

Disclaimer: I don't own Coraline: talk to Neil Gaiman/Laika Studios

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Coraline Jones, age 15, was in math class.

She was also sound asleep.

_The thick, cloying smell of too many dogs in too small a space; fingers sticky from picking at fossilized taffy; a hot cup of tea, warmth seeping into her hands through the porcelain; wrinkled skin, lined with age and maybe even a little wisdom… _

"_Not to worry my dear, it's good news! There's a tall, dark beast in your future…now solve for X." _

Her brow furrowed. '_I don't quite remember Ms. Forcible saying anything about an X…_'

The sound of a nearby class mate's sneeze jarred her awake. Realizing she'd been dozing with her head slumped over her chest, Coraline did a quick check for drool--'_none, thank god'_--and sat up straighter in her chair, attempting to pay attention. However, it wasn't long before she found her thoughts drifting again, back to her dream. '_A tall, dark beast, eh…so much for Ms. Forcible's fortune-telling prowess--_'

She paused as an image of her chatty neighbor and longtime best friend, Wybie, flashed through her brain. Coraline chortled to herself, contemplating this.

'_Right, WYBIE…that's something._' Mind wandering down this path, she began to doodle idly in her notebook.

'_Well, he has gotten taller recently_,' she mused. '_And he certainly wears enough dark-colored outfits, no matter how hard his Grandma tries_.' She stopped to have a quick mental chuckle at Wybie's expense, remembering the time his Grandma had confiscated all his ripped-up black clothes and replaced them with a myriad of horrifying pastels and khakis in an attempt to make him more "respectable." He'd simply refused to leave his room until she'd relented, but the incident had been entertaining nonetheless.

Her drawing had taken on a distinctly Wybie-like shape.

'_As for beastly…hah, I guess I can see that too. His hair's always got twigs and stuff in it, and he's always roaming around the woods like a wild animal…he hangs out with more creatures than people, like Cat. And "Slugzilla"._' Her lips twitched into a small smile at the memory; he was just as bizarre now as he'd been then, but that's what made him so…'_Interesting_,' she decided.

Glancing down, Coraline had to cover her mouth to stifle her laugh at her rendering of him: Wybie's body was hunched over and covered with thick, curly fur full of leaves. His head was tilted to the side and crowned with perked-up pointy ears; his gloved hands were tipped with curved claws and his characteristic crooked grin revealed a pair of gleaming fangs. '_Look at him! He's like a big, dopey dog…Werewolf Lovat! It suits him,_' she sniggered. Tearing out the page and folding it, she stuck it in the front of her notebook and tried to focus on the teacher's monotonous droning.

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Mind preoccupied, Coraline meandered down the hallway, unaware that she was being watched.

'_Look at her…she's so adorable when she's spacing out_,' Wybie sighed. The teen had been crushing on the blue-haired girl for some time now, but despite his many dropped hints she still had yet to get the message. Seeing her now, lost in her own little world, Wybie felt a pang. '_Someday I'll find a way to tell her how I really feel…_'

The sight of something falling out of Coraline's notebook and fluttering to the ground caught his eye, but by the time he'd turned to call her she'd disappeared into some classroom. Walking over as casually as possible, Wybie leaned down as though he were tying his shoe and snatched the small square of paper up off the floor. His fingers had worked themselves into the edges and begun unwrapping the note without his meaning to, but '_well…it's open now_,' he thought. His surprise at the contents sent his jaw towards the floor; despite the way he'd been drawn, Wybie couldn't help but feel flattered._ 'This proves she's thinking of me_!'

He skipped down the hall, already formulating a plan. "'Werewolf Lovat', huh? Just you wait, Jonesy…"

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Snuggling into her covers, Coraline settled down for a good night's rest. "'Night, Cat," she murmured sleepily to the feline at the foot of the bed, earning a soft purr in response. Eyes drifting closed, Coraline felt herself slipping into dreamland…

Until an unearthly howl shattered the silence and had her sitting bolt upright, heart pounding wildly. Ears straining, she listened--

"There it is again!" she hissed, hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. Dashing to the window, Coraline pressed her face against the cold glass and tried to make out the source of the sound in the shadows below. "What do you think it could be?"

Cat, vague as ever, kneaded the blanket and curled his tail around himself, as if to say '_Just another hunter on the prowl._'

Coraline gave the window one last look before crawling back into bed for a fitful sleep full of swaying trees and strange monsters.

Cat hopped up onto the windowsill, his keen eyes watching as a dark shape shuffled through the underbrush, three green eyes glowing in the dark. '_Although how he means to catch his prey in this manner, I am most curious to see._'

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"What's the matter, Jonesy? Not sleep well?"

Coraline dropped her head to her desk, too tired to punch Wybie like she normally would. "No, _Wybourne_, I didn't."

Hiding his smile, Wybie affected a shocked tone: "Why on Earth not?"

"Something made all this racket and kept me up half the night," she growled, irritated.

Wybie couldn't resist poking the bear one more time. "Want to borrow some of my 'boogey man' repellent?"

A set of sharp knuckles colliding with a tender bicep ended the conversation quickly.

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That night Coraline stayed up an hour later than she normally would, waiting; picking up nothing, she decided it was safe to get to bed. Giving Cat a quick scratch between the ears and shutting off her light, she slid her eyes closed.

No sooner did she begin to doze off did she hear it again: a terrible shrieking howl that rang out long and low before tapering off. Leaping out of bed, she ran to the window; catching a glimpse of something large disappearing into the bushes near her parent's car, she felt her blood run cold. "Cat, there's something out there…of course this would happen to me. What is this place, freak central?!"

Cat cracked open one blue eye, amused. '_Something like that._'

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The sight of Coraline's exhausted face the next day had Wybie frowning with worry. "Hey, are you alright?"

Coraline turned to him, eyes underlined with dark circles. "Wybie. Does this area have a history of monsters? Urban legends? Anything like that?"

Wringing his hands and looking anxious, he shifted his gaze to the side. "Uh, n-no, aside from the, you know…b-but you already took care of that."

Pressing her fingers to her aching temples, Coraline wracked her brain for a solution.

If she didn't get a decent night's sleep soon, there'd be hell to pay.

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Having grilled the tenants of the Pink Palace for clues and coming up spectacularly short, Coraline knew she had only one option left: investigate the creature herself. Camped out under her window, fully dressed with a flashlight in one hand and a depressingly dull butter knife in the other (her mom would kill her if she got blood on any of the expensive--"and unused," she grumbled-- chef's knives), she waited in the dark for the howl to signal the presence of the beast. Cat sat next to her, looking rather unaffected despite the circumstances; '_Well, that makes one of us_,' Coraline thought, feeling oddly apprehensive. Steeling her resolve, she remembered her past triumph over the witch in the wall--_'I took her out. I can handle whatever this is too--_'

There it was: the howling that had been haunting her for the past two nights. It seemed a little quieter this time, but Coraline was already in the foyer, slowly opening the creaky old front door and slinking out onto the porch as silently as she could. Scanning the area, heart beating madly, she saw it: a set of three green eyes gleaming in the night. The sight set off alarm bells in her head: '_Where have I seen eyes like that before…?_' They seemed to be looking up at her bedroom window; the thought sent a chill down her spine. Quickly and quietly she ran down the front stairs, knife at the ready; with a loud yell she charged toward the monster, tackling it to the ground. The creature struggled mightily, but at the press of cold metal against its throat it fell still: its smooth, hairless, human-like throat… Coraline's breath caught. '_It couldn't be._'

Sitting up, she looked down at what she'd captured; a white skull with three green eyes smiled up at her. Feeling herself getting angrier by the second, she ripped the mask away. "Wybie?!"

Said boy was lying flat on his back beneath her, looking scared. "H-heya, Jonesy…"

Coraline gaped at him, disbelieving. "What the hell are you doing here? Was that you howling these past few nights?!"

Wybie cringed, trying to curl in on himself. "W-well, it was just supposed to be a harmless little p-prank…you know, werewolf…"

Her fist paused in mid-air, mind whirling. '_Werewolf--but how…?_'

Realizing she hadn't seen her little sketch since the day she'd drawn it, Coraline glared down at him. "You saw my picture? How?"

He looked contrite. "I-it fell out of your notebook and I picked it up. I was gonna give it back, I swear!"

"But not before you played some dumb joke on me?!"

He looked miserable. "I'm sorry."

Watching him bite his lip, weak and vulnerable beneath her, an unexpected thought floated into her head: '_He really is pretty cute, in a dorky way…_'

Right then and there, Coraline Jones had an epiphany: she thought Wybie Lovat was cute…she _liked_ him.

And from the way he'd sat out all night for the past three days in the cold, just to get her attention --albeit in the weirdest way possible, but she supposed that was normal for him--, she had a sneaking suspicion he liked her too.

Focusing on him again, she smiled darkly. "Well I caught you, Werewolf Lovat. Don't have any silver bullets on me, but…" she waved the butter knife around, expression devilish.

Nervous, Wybie followed the knife with his eyes--and frowned. Turning to her he said "You know, that knife is pretty dull. It probably isn't even made of silver. I doubt it would do you much good against a tough cut of meat, let alone a werewolf…"

Coraline rolled her eyes: he was such a know-it-all. But she had another idea…

Tossing the knife over her shoulder, she grabbed Wybie by the collar of his jacket and yanked him into a sitting position, settling her weight on his knees. "I know one other way to turn a beast back into a man."

Blushing at their proximity, he finally met her gaze. "What's that?"

Smirking, she raised her fist as if to deliver a punishing blow. He squeezed his eyes shut--

Only to have them fly open again when he felt the warm, moist pressure of her lips against his, her arms winding themselves around his neck as she melded their mouths together.

Pulling away, Coraline blinked and peered at him closely. "Well? Have you changed back?"

Tilting his head, Wybie considered for a moment before giving her a rather wolfish grin. "I don't think so. You'd better do it again…"

She didn't need to be told twice.

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That night, two howls chorused together.

Cat flicked his ears away from the din, annoyed. '_Animals._'

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AN: This goofy little story settled itself into my brain and forced its way out of my fingers. It's okay, I never liked sleeping anyway… -_-

Not sure that the Forcible quote is verbatim, but that's about what she said… now I'm making myself nervous, lol. Did I imagine it because I wanted to hear it? XD

I have to admit, I'm curious to see what Wybie would look like as a werewolf XD or better yet, in khakis and a dress shirt! It would be surreal (and really cute, because you know, it's _Wybie_). Been kicking around the idea of doing a lengthy, multi-chapter story with plenty of CxW and maybe some CxOW…what do you think?

Please read, review, and enjoy.

Also--THANK YOU to everyone who's been reviewing my other fics! Your comments are so encouraging and sweet :D

**ETA: There is now a gorgeous bit of artwork by Jamieface to go along with this story! You can check it out here (just take out the spaces): http :// the mindless jamie face. deviantart. com/ art/ Beastly- 117599707

Thank you JF, I adore it!!

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